The Masters Initiative
by Guardian of the crest
Summary: Dozens of heroes from across the globe are all apart of the force known to the world as the Justice League. Together, they are a faceless entity to be reckoned with. So what's so special about just four faces in the company of so many? T for now.
1. Chapter 1

Gotc: Aloha everyone! Well, before we begin, let me give you the reason this story has made it to the list of fics. A couple of months ago, I started an RP forum centered around the Justice League. No it's not weird, in my opinion, it's really like writing a fic with a bunch of other people while flying by the seat of your pants. Anyway, it turned out WAY better than I ever thought it would have and we are now about to seize the number two spot in the JL discussion forums. So I started reading back through, and found a couple of places along the developing plotline I would have liked to elaborate more on/make flow better, but we had already long since moved on. Therefore, with the permission of my good friends who helped me make that RP in to the wonderful on-going tale that it is, I'm going to bring it all to you in fic form while introducing you all to the people who helped make it all possible along the way.

That being said, keep in mind that a good chunk of everything you will read is not mine, most of these characters belong to the people of my little RPing community, and above all, I own no part of Justice League or its affiliated characters.

I'll give you one more warning: This is an adapted RP made into a fic. It will be OC heavy, but not without the characters you already know and love (or hate as the case may be). It also takes place before the episode "To Another Shore"

Oh, and I own no part of the Justice League or even many of the characters you'll be reading about here.

_The Master's Initiative_

CHAPTER 1: New Faces

"Hold the line!" Superman's voice carried over the burning landscape, as dozens of heroes worked to extinguish the flames that threatened the town hardly a mile to the south of them.

How it had started was anyone's guess. A spark, or cinder from a still smoldering cigarette butt. Whatever it was, it had been enough to ignite the bone dry California brush into a raging inferno that had already consumed over ten thousand acres. Firemen and Justice League alike worked tirelessly to try and quell the ravenous flames as they drew closer and closer to the small town, while the local law enforcement worked side by side with the heroes and heroines to get every last person to safety. The heat rolling off of the towering flames was intense, even by Superman's standards, and he could tell the firemen were beginning to struggle with it. They weren't going to last much longer like this.

"Shayera, are you just about finished there?" Superman's strained voice came in over her com-link, "Even with the League, this fire's beating us back! We're not going to be able to hold it off for much longer before we'll need to start pulling the firefighters out of here."

"I think we're just about ready," Came her reply, "Most of the people left before the fires got too close, we're just rounding up the stragglers now."

"Alright," Superman said, pushing a burning tree back into the flames, where it wouldn't ignite any others, "I'll start pulling everyone out of here then."

It took him less than a second to give the order to retreat, and the entire task force, both meta and human began to hurry away from the oncoming blaze. Superman himself was about to pull back, when he noticed a commotion about a hundred yards away, a group of firefighters shouting so loud he could hear them without any super-human ability.

"We can't just leave him in there!"

"What can you do?! Add to the body count?"

Superman turned back to the small group of men, most of whom were struggling to hold one of their own from charging straight into the fire. But the lone man was more than determined, and with one last pull, he broke free of his crew and bolted straight for the flames. It took less than a second for Superman to cover the distance that separated himself from the group, and caught hold of the man's collar before he charged into the roaring inferno.

"What's going on here?" The Man of Steel demanded, knowing every second that passed lessened their chances of making it out of the fires alive.

"It's Michaelson!" The Firefighter in his hand nearly screamed, "We were pulling out and he got caught in the draft from one of our back-fires! We lost him when the fire break closed over!"

Superman dropped the struggling man and turned his sights to the raging blaze. With the waving flames and intense heat, it was nearly impossible to make out any kind human figure that would have been scrambling to get out of the fire's path. But it wasn't what was behind the curtain of flames that caught his attention; instead it was a black blur that rushed past him. The figure took two bounds before leaping into a charring tree and vaulted down behind the wall of fire.

Cursing the rashness of the daredevil, Superman turned back to his group of evacuees. They had to get everyone they could out now, or risk losing far more than one man. He gathered the men next to him and took to safer air, leaving the smoke and cinder charred skies behind him. He could see everyone was out already, League and safety personnel checking in, but in the back of his mind he knew there would be two missing somewhere on their rosters.

He more or less dropped the men, before rushing to find whoever was keeping track of the heroes checking in. Superpowers or not, the crowds around the station were so thick, it felt like an eternity before he managed to get a hold of one of the people in charge.

"You there!" Superman shouted at the worker, "What groups haven't checked in yet?!"

"Uhh…" The man stammered, scrolling through his lists, "Squads 3 and 12 sir!"

"Has anyone been reported missing?"

"I—it's too early to tell sir," He fumbled, trying to find anything to tell one of the most powerful men on the planet, "I don't have anything-"

"Superman!"

The Man of Steel looked to see someone pushing through the crowd towards him, waving an arm trying to get his attention. He'd seen the hero around the Watchtower before, not an old man, but certainly one who'd seen a number of years in such a dangerous line of work. Thin plates of a strange metallic armor seemed to hug his body like a living suit as he weaved nimbly in and out of the crowd of people to reach his destination. The secret behind the strange suit didn't remain that way for long, thanks to an almost imperceptible clicking and metallic sound of movement at a microscopic level. Nanobots, the whole suit was made of them and he knew of only one person who owned such an intricate piece of technology. Devlon McDernon, a.k.a. Black Jack.

"Black Jack?" Superman said, a little confused as the hero finally caught up to him, "What's the matter?"

"My squad's short one man," Black Jack panted, nearly cutting Superman off, "We've checked the entire area, but there's no trace of him anywhere and he's not answering his com-link."

"Who is it?" Superman demanded.

"Guy calls himself Windrider. I'm pretty sure he's the one a couple of you Founders picked up off the streets a few months back."

"Where was the last place you saw him?"

"About half mile south of the river break, but last I checked that whole area's charcoal-Whoa!"

"Show me!"

Black Jack flailed a bit as Superman hoisted him up off the ground and started hauling him through the air and back towards the rolling heat of the blaze. It took less than a few second to reach the fire's edge, but they were still a mile out and the smoke was far too thick to breathe in, much less see through. It didn't matter how high or how far around Superman tried to circle the fire, the smoke had a veil cast around it so think it would take hours for it to clear enough to see through.

Fearing the worst for the missing Leaguer, Superman started to circle around one last time praying for any glimpse through the haze, when Black Jack thrashed in his arms, wildly pointing to something on the ground below.

"Look! Superman! There in the water! Someone's coming out!"

Sure enough, two blackened figures were stumbling out of the shimmering silver ribbon that ran right next to the rallying point. And their appearance hadn't gone unnoticed by the people on the ground either, a large group of them breaking away from the mass of people to help them out of the water. Superman and Black Jack touched down just near the water's edge in time to see a group of firemen rush over to one of the soggy figures to embrace him like a brother back from the dead. A few others crowded around the other, only to be waved off as he stood doubled over coughing up the soot tainted water. It wasn't easy, but Superman could just make out the stylized "W" ingrained on the lightweight chest plate, as the young hero would try to stand in order to breathe a little easier.

"You'll have to tell me how you did that one day," Superman said appreciatively, walking up next to the recovering Leaguer.

The young man didn't quite stand up, but he did crane his head around to get a better look at the Man of Steel. What first struck him, was just _how_ young the daredevil was. He couldn't have even been old enough to drink or toss a few coins into a slot machine, yet here he was gambling his life in the ultimate game of Russian roulette. Spiky sand-brown hair was peppered with the still falling ash and soot that hung thick in the air even as far away from the fires as they were. His eyes didn't' seem as though they were quite able to make up their mind on what color they wanted to be, shifting from a rustic green to a deep amber in just the few seconds Superman was able to observe him. Black, loose fitting material disguised a study and muscled frame, given away only where space pieces of light armor clung to his arms and shoulders. Now his face looked familiar. The kid was a young runaway by the name of Raizel Kurin. He remembered reading the report Batman had filed not too long after he and J'onn had found the kid on a recovery mission following a prison break from Striker's.

"Impulse," Windrider coughed, "The river was a big help though."

Superman spared a chuckle, a mix of relief and good humor. He noticed a few tears in the younger hero's suit, angry red lashes marking where the material's barrier had failed.

"You should probably go and get checked out by one of the medical teams," Superman suggested.

"I'll be alright," Windrider said quickly, gingerly testing all of his limbs to make sure everything was still in good functioning order.

"You won't be when I get done with you!" Black Jack's voice cut through, as the man pushed past Superman to whack Windrider hard on the shoulder, "You almost gave me a heart attack! I mean how bad would I'd a looked if I lost one of my squad on a simple rescue mission?"

"No worse than you look now," Windrider grinned faintly, dodging another retaliatory swipe from the older Leaguer.

"Alright, that's enough," Superman said, putting an end to the bickering, "Go let one of the techs know your squad is ready for teleport back to the Watchtower. And Windrider, you really should get yourself checked out. You had to have been in that smoke for quite some time."

"As soon as I get back to the Tower Superman," Windrider nodded, following behind Black Jack before vanishing amongst the throng of people.

"What were you thinking!?"

"Trust me, there really wasn't a thought process."

The comforting hum of the teleporter died away to the metallic sounds of the Watchtower, and Black Jack's continued rant. Really, the older hero was perhaps Rai's closest friend in such an alien feeling setting, so he took the conversation in stride, knowing full well had he been in a similar position their roles would have been reversed. A stifled yawn rose in his chest, and he looked around to check the time, forgetting for the thousandth time that there was no set hour on board the orbiting space station. He understood why, after all when they were changing time zones every ten minutes and people were coming and going at all hours of the Watchtower's erratic schedule, time was really the last thing on anyone's minds. But it didn't quite make up for the havoc it wreaked on his internal clock.

"Look, I'll try to be more careful next time," Windrider promised, "I'll catch you next shift?"

"Oh no you don't," Black Jack insisted, grabbing a hold of his uniform, and pulling him towards the Commissary, "You're not just going to slink away today. You're going to come get something to eat."

"Black Jack…" Windrider chuckled politely, "I'm really not hungry, and I'd just like to get some sleep-"

"Don't try it Rai," The elder cut him off, "You and I both know you hardly sleep, or eat for that matter. I'm going to make sure you get a good meal at the very least."

"What?" Rai asked, realizing where they were headed, "At the Commissary?!"

"Ok, so maybe not a good meal, but food,"

----

Rai rubbed his neck, as he stood in line waiting for his tray in the cafeteria. His eyes continuously darted from one costume to another, every nerve and muscle drawn taut, despite what he looked like on the outside. He felt exposed here, even though he knew full well no one here would do him any harm. It took every ounce of his self-control to maintain a relaxed appearance despite of the deer in the headlights feeling that kept rolling inside his chest.

He quickly snatched a dish from the line, hardly looking at what it was and headed for a table on the edge of the room. Windrider set his tray down, taking his seat at the empty table, as Black Jack found his own opposite him. The Commissary was packed today, especially after so many returning from that wildfire. Windrider started into his food without another word, keeping his eyes solidly fixed on his tray, trying to ignore just how many other people there were around him. Black Jack was saying something to him, but his voice sounded far off and distant, until a plastic cup knocked into his forehead.

"You didn't hear a thing I just said did you?" Black Jack huffed.

"Sorry," Windrider apologized, "I guess I'm just a little tired."

"Apparently," Black Jack said pointing to his tray, "You didn't even add the cheese to your pasta there."

Rai glanced down at his food and saw the still sealed packet of cheese sauce next to the half eaten macaroni. With a sigh, he tore it open and dumped some of it onto the lukewarm noodles and stuffed another forkful into his mouth.

"See? Being social hasn't made you drop of a heart attack yet!" Black Jack joked, taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Funny." Windrider mumbled, shoveling the last of his food down and standing up with his tray, "Look Dev, I need to get going. I still need to get checked out at the med bay before I turn in alright?"

"Whatever pal," Black Jack resigned, waving Rai off in defeat, "If you do ever decide to have some fun, I'll be on the station for another couple of…..hours…."

Black Jack sighed, by the time he looked up, Rai was already long gone.

-------

Gotc: Well, it took a little longer than I'd planned to adapt this, but I'm happy with how it's coming along! This first chapter was a little harder to write since a good deal of it never actually took place in the RP itself, but I needed a sounding board to start introducing people! Now if you haven't guessed already there are two OC's in this chapter: Windrider and Black Jack. Windrider is one of my own personal creations, but Dev McDernon belongs to one of the first people to join the RP: KanaMama! An awesome guy currently going through a pretty hard time right now, I have to say I'm glad to have been able to spend time writing this storyline with him and so many other talented individuals! Next chapter I'll be introducing you to more of the crew as we go, so keep a look out and remember to hit that little button there at the bottom of your screen and tell us what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Gotc: Yeah, so adaptation is a lot harder than it originally sounded. At any rate, I had some inspiration and decided to seize the opportunity whilst I had the chance…..especially since creative writing is slowly sucking away my will to live. No offence to those of you who this may pertain to but, creative writing majors (at least the ones I'm stuck with) have to be the biggest, egocentrical, stuck-up snobs I've ever met. If my above comment did pertain to you, take note and don't be like the people I'm forced to share space with. Please.

At any rate: I do not own JL or most of the characters in this story and am using them only by explicit permission from their original creators. Go sue someone else.

_The Master's Initiative_

CHAPTER 2: Shadows in the Dark

"Has he shown up yet?"

Daraen was just about at the end of his remaining patience with the voice on the other end of his communicator. Had it not been for the disembodied voice, to the naked eye, all that had previously adorned the L.A. rooftop was shadows under a blanket of stars. Now, as he stirred from his position, the vague silhouette of a man outlined itself by carving out a void in the stars.

Daraen raised his wrist to his mouth, being careful not to raise his voice any more than a low growl.

"No ma'am," He forced politeness into his voice, "This magician hasn't so much as breathed in this city, much less tried to contact me. I'm beginning to think whoever referred him to Cadmus was just trying to waste our time."

A frustrated sigh came over the speaker. "Stay put. This might be our only chance to retrieve our missing Project before we'll be forced to start taking more invasive measures."

"You'll pardon my repetition," He scoffed into the communicator, "But I don't see why we're relying on outside help for this when the damn kid's been flaunting himself all over the 6 o'clock news. Waller, you know as well as I do we could have already had him back in lock down."

"We've been over this Hybrid," Amanda Waller's voice came in, her tone omitting any room for argument, "The League's been keeping a close eye on him, no matter how open he might appear to be. If we're going to draw him out, it's going to need to be big enough to draw the League's attention and the fewer connections to Cadmus the better."

Hybrid growled to the open air in front of him, but obediently settled himself back into his hiding spot. Clouds began to drift in from the sea with the cooling air.

"He gets one more hour. If he's not here by then, I'm doing this my way." Hybrid said at last.

"And what exactly is _your_ way, my friend?" A Cheshire grin appeared from the shadows as the last of the moonlight vanished behind the clouds.

-----

The vial filled silently with crimson fluid as J'onn connected the collection tube to the needle in Rai's arm. Rai sat impatiently tapping one foot, as the Martian carefully documented the sample and placed the tube into a nearby container.

"Is that it?" Rai asked, feigning surprise when J'onn pulled the needle, "No bone marrow? Muscle tissue? Brain matter?"

"I do believe this will be sufficient for now," J'onn said stoically, finishing up his notes, "But if I happen to need a urine sample, I'll know where to find you."

Rai cocked an eyebrow at the Manhunter's sly sense of humor, but chose not to respond as he pulled his shirt back over his head. J'onn still had his back to him, spinning down his newly acquired sample and taking no notice of the young hero still sharing space with him.

"You, uh…you haven't found out anything el-" Rai started.

"Nothing we didn't already know I'm afraid," J'onn cut him off, finishing the rest of Rai's thought, "But there's a few more tests I still want to run before I have any definitive answers."

Rai nodded and rolled his eyes, as he walked out the medleab door. "You need a new answer to that J'onn." He called back, as he disappeared out in the hall, "You say it so much, I think _I'm_ starting to become telepathic."

J'onn didn't look up from the lab table, but instead held up the file he'd been scribbling notes in as a black glove materialized out of thin air.

"Anything new?" The Dark Knight asked, thumbing through the various charts and figures.

"No. If anything, he's slowly getting worse."

Batman nodded and placed the file back on the table as he took the spun down vial J'onn had prepared.

"We'll have to tell him soon." J'onn said, as the sample disappeared into his belt, "The Founders at the very least."

Batman halted in his step, glancing backward at the file resting on the counter where he'd left it.

"Call the Founders and let them know," He said at last, "No one else finds out about this. Not until we've run through every possibility."

J'onn nodded once but knew there was no one left in the room to see the gesture. Instead, he set about on his task contacting the others. Right now all he could hope for was there was something in that small vial now in Batman's possession, something they'd missed. Anything they could use.

-----

"That's it?"

"That's it." Hybrid nodded. The sorcerer had certainly been receptive to his plan, and all too eager to add his own ideas to the mix. Personally, he thought the man was too overdressed for the occasion, sporting a top hat and cane like a deranged sideshow magician, but here he was looking like something straight from a _Mission Impossible_ movie so perhaps it worked out well enough.

"Hmm," The magician twirled his cane thoughtfully between his fingers. The intel called the man "Spirit", but whatever his real name was anyone's guess.

"I don't see why I should," Spirit said, leaning against his cane, "After all, I don't need _your_ help to cause the kind of mayhem you're talking about."

"You're not getting paid for it on your own either." Hybrid pointed out.

"True, but to be honest I'm not interested in what the dogs of Cadmus have to offer me," Spirit sneered in the shadows, "I want something more….substantial."

"Which is?"

"Very similar to what you're after actually," Spirit chuckled, "A hero currently out of reach on board the infamous Watchtower. You can keep whatever your bosses have told you to pay me, and in return…"

Hybrid could have sworn he saw the magician's eyes flash red in the poor light as the words formed on his lips.

"I get to kill the hero called Soul Stealer."

------

Rai stepped into the stairwell and started up the floors a flight of stairs at a time. He knew it would have been a lot easier to have just taken the elevator in the main corridor, but fewer people came this way. He'd been lucky even if he would happen to run into one of the maintenance crew. He reached for the door at the end of one of the flights, only for it to swing open and nearly hit him in the face.

"Hey!" Rai barked, jumping out of the way, "Watch where you're going!"

A young woman not much older than him stood on the other side of the entryway, a lost look on her face as she peered into the stairwell.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She quickly apologized, "I was just trying to find the showers…"

Rai sighed and relaxed a little. He really needed to get it through his head people were _not_ out to get him every time a door opened in front of him.

"No," He shook his head, "It's my fault. You just startled me, that's all. But you're about as far away from the showers as you can get."

He heard her give and exasperated sigh and mutter something about needed a map. He didn't recognize her right away, though he wasn't sure how he couldn't. She had platinum hair that cascaded past her shoulders and piercing teal colored eyes that seemed to see straight through him. He didn't notice it right off, but she seemed to be draped in a smoke black cloak that almost had a life of its own that was in stark contrast to the rest of her appearance.

Now he remembered. There had been a buzz in the cafeteria a few weeks ago about Dr. Fate taking a young magician under his wing. Which meant she wasn't just lost, she was new.

"I can point you in the right direction if you need ," Rai said, even before he fully registered what it was that had just come out of his mouth, "This place can be pretty confusing."

"Oh, thank you," She sighed in relief falling in step with him, and lapsing into silence as they walked through the corridors.

For a minute or two the only noise was the sound of twin footsteps as they walked down the hall. Normally, Rai didn't mind the quiet, in fact, he preferred it….when he was alone. With the heroine walking next to him, the lack of conversation was almost stifling.

"So…When did you join the League?" He asked, feeling a little awkward at such a lame attempt at conversation.

"I was..ah…living in a fishing village off the coast of Japan," she started, "It was attacked by another sorcerer looking for me. The League showed up to offer assistance and ended up extending me an invitation."

"Riiiight," Rai said, "I remember hearing about that. Dr. Fate's been your mentor since you got here, right?"

"Mhmm," She nodded, "It's not often you get a chance to learn from the League's best magician. But what about you? You're Windrider aren't you? I've seen you coming back from a couple missions."

Rai didn't answer right away. It felt like the memory of that night came flooding back in full force. He had just wanted a place to rest, if he was lucky, something to eat. He hadn't meant to stumble into Gotham, much less right into the path of a fugitive villain….

"It's just Rai if you don't mind, and I kind of ended up here by mistake. Hostage situation gone wrong," Rai shrugged, "I was in Gotham and ran headlong into a fight between Killer Croc and Batman. Tried to use me as a shield to get away, but it just didn't work out as planned."

"Too much for him to handle?" She asked with a bit of a laugh in her voice.

"Yeah," Rai laughed with her, though his held none of the humor, "Something like that."

He stopped when the sound of running water reached his ears over the sound of his own heart beat drumming in them. His stomach twisted painfully at lying to the heroine, even if his only lie was not telling her the whole truth.

"_Ah…"_ He snarled mentally, _"What the hell do I care? I just met her. Two days from now she probably won't even remember this happened."_

"Well, I guess this is your stop," Rai waved towards the showers, and already turning on his heals to leave, "It was nice to meet you…I'm sorry, I never asked your name."

"Kite Sagara," The heroine bowed politely, "Soul Stealer."

Gotc: And here is where I shall leave it for now. Still have a few more people to introduce before all is said and done, but I'll get my rear in gear eventually. Sorry it's so short and all, but I despise intro chapters. That'll change soon enough though :3….. Anyhoo, allow me to introduce the next member of our writing staff: Blood Angel Evangelion!

She's been with us from day one, and is the creator of both Spirit and Soul Stealer! Personally, I feel honored to have worked with her for a little over a year now. She's an amazing writer who brings a ton of emotion and personality to her characters, which was part of the reason this chapter was so hard to write. Not only that, but she's a great artist as well and she's taken on the daunting task of illustrating each character for us! You'll have to check out her profile for the info on how to check out everything she has done so far!

Well, that's enough from me, so now all that's left for you all is to click on that little button right there. Yeah, that's the one. Make sure you tell me what you think and hopefully the massive block of doom won't come and visit me for so long next time! Laters!


	3. Chapter 3

Gotc: Because of the incessant nagging of my RP-mates, I have finished for you another chapter of the Master's Initiative! TAH-DAH! J/k guys, you know I love ya. Not the point though. The point is that:

Gotc does not own Justice League or any of its characters, or even really 90% of the OC's in this fic. Go find others to sue.

And because I'm tired, you're all going to go and read now! Shoo! And hopefully I've fixed some of the POV formatting errors this time around!

* * *

_The Master's Initiative_

CHAPTER 3: Personal File

Rai was actually whistling as he lazily made his way back to his room. He wasn't exactly sure why, but he certainly felt a lot better than he had an hour ago. He was fairly certain it had to be that Kite girl, after all, she was the first person he'd met that didn't make him feel like he needed to bolt in the opposite direction. She'd certainly been easy enough to talk to-

Rai violently shook his head to clear his mind of the reverie. He wasn't up here to make friends. Yes, these people were allies, but to be anything else would borderline on disaster. He needed to focus on every day, and not let himself fall into the complacency that seemed to be settling into his bones. He needed that focus, he needed the awareness, he needed….his room..key.

Rai stared blankly at the door, his brows knit together in frustration. He was still on a trial basis with the League, and codes to the Watchtower weren't distributed until one was inducted permanently. Those who had been granted permission to be onboard the Watchtower were given cards with the codes built in as security measures, though they only allowed limited access to the Watchtower. However, he still needed it to get into his room.

"Great…" Rai grumbled, glaring at the door. He knew it wouldn't open, but the trick always seemed to work for Batman. "Must have left it back in the med-bay..."

He was tired and ready to drop, but he wasn't about to wait outside his door like a college kid who's roommate had kicked him out for the evening. And since staring at the door certainly wasn't getting him anywhere fast, that left his only option as heading back the way he'd come to see if his card was still laying somewhere about the med-bay.

"So much for focus," Rai chided himself as he turned around and headed off again.

* * *

Kite relished the feeling of not needing to be anywhere as she took her time getting dressed. The warm water had done wonders for the tension that was building to almost painful levels in her muscles, and left her feeling very relaxed indeed. Though as much as she would have loved to have lingered there for a while longer, there was always something on board the Watchtower that she needed to attend or someone she needed to meet with. Dr. Fate was an excellent teacher, but he sure kept her busy enough.

She ran her hands through her hair, magic stripping the water out from between the strands, before she pulled her cloak across her shoulders, letting the seemingly alive material adjust itself as she started to leave the showers. She was sharing a shift in the Monitor Womb with another new recruit as she understood it, and fortunately, she knew the way back to the central hub of the station well enough without getting too lost.

It was certainly taking some getting used to, living on board the League's headquarters. After all, the tiny fishing village she'd come from could have fit inside the structure three times over. There were certainly enough people to inhabit it, though everyone seemed to move far too quickly for her tastes. Everyone always seemed to have somewhere to be, though perhaps that was why Dr. Fate was keeping her so busy. Maybe he thought it would help her adjust to the new lifestyle expected of her. She just hoped she'd get used to it soon.

There were already people waiting for her inside when she arrived, albeit a minute or two late. A girl, very young by the look of her, was already seated at the control panel, with an extremely confused look on her face as J'onn and another hero she didn't recognize waited for her to step inside.

"Soul Stealer," J'onn nodded at her arrival, "We're going to have you train on Monitor Duty today with another of our newer members, Storm Dancer."

"Nice to meet you," Soul smiled and extended a hand to the girl who gingerly took it.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to stay with you as planned today," J'onn said once she'd introduced herself, "I'm needed at a Founder's meeting, so I'll be leaving you with BlackJack for this shift. He'll show you the basics of what's done, and will be happy to answer any questions you might have, right BlackJack?"

"Sure thing, E.T." Blackjack grinned widely, before he withered under J'onn's gaze, "I mean, yes sir."

"Good," J'onn said, before he melted through the floor, leaving the three alone to begin their shifts.

BlackJack really would rather be getting some rest, but any time to earn brownie points with the Founders wasn't something he was about to pass up for a few extra hours of sleep. Besides, there were worse ways to spend a couple of hours. He glanced back and forth between his two charges, and clapped his hands together, vigorously rubbing his palms.

"Alright!" He beamed, "Who's ready to get started?"

* * *

"OW! DAMNIT!"

Rai fell back on his haunches to rub the back of his head after cracking it looking for his card key under an exam table. He crossed his legs and continued to run his hand against the back of his skull as he scanned the lab area for anywhere it could have fallen. The floors were immaculate as always, so it wasn't like he had to look past wads of dust or fallen supplies behind equipment, but it wasn't difficult either to see that his pass wasn't anywhere to be found.

With a sigh, Rai heaved himself back to his feet and leaned against the counter wracking his brain to try and think of the last place he'd left the stupid thing before he'd have to admit he lost it. Not something he wanted to have to do.

"Ok,"He rubbed his forehead, pinching his eyes shut, "Mess Hall, Med-Lab, I ran into that girl in the hall…."

As he reopened his eyes, a file sitting on the desk next to him caught his attention in the otherwise pristine room. He lifted the file up; vainly hoping the object of his search might have been slipped under it, but to no avail. He was about to slide the rouge file back into one of the holders along the wall, when the name on the tab caught his attention.

Raiziel Kurin.

"_My file?"_ Rai frowned, _"I thought J'onn put this away already?"_

Had the file belonged to anyone else, he would have dropped the folder like a hot coal. Medical records on League members were as personal as it got. The doctors on board had to already be on a working basis with one or more active Leaguers to even treat the heroes, and they had to pass rigorous screenings by J'onn himself before they had access to that kind of information. But as it was his own file, it couldn't hurt to see what it was they had written about him, could it?

Licking a finger, Rai settled back against the counter and flipped open the cover and lazily thumbed through the pages one at a time, skimming more than actually reading. Most of it was just the basic write-up stuff they did for anyone who came through the med-lab anyway. He was about to put it down, when he came to a section, buried right in the middle of the stack.

At first he wasn't sure he was reading it right, most of the pages were different charts and graphs he couldn't exactly make out, but J'onn's handwriting was an entirely different matter. He understood English just fine, though he still had to re-read the words on the page just to make sure he wasn't losing his mind.

His hands tightened around the pages, until his fingers actually ripped holes in to the stiff cardboard cover. With an angry grunt, he flung the thing as hard as he could, the loose papers flying in all directions as he rushed out of the lab and made a beeline straight for the Monitor Womb.

* * *

"Whoa, hold on there Storm Dancer," Devlon stopped the dark haired heroine, pointing to one of the monitors, "You about activated the teleporters with people on the pads. You'll send someone 10,000 feet above D.C. like that, and not all of us know how to fly."

Storm Dancer sat back in her seat and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose. BlackJack seemed to be an expert when it came to the thousands of buttons and switches that fanned out in front of them, and most of them seemed to be ones they were never supposed to touch or someone was going to get sucked into space. She wasn't sure she liked the idea of one day being left alone with that many ways to accidentally kill someone. She glanced at her reflection in one of the monitors, her long hair falling out of its ponytail. Her costume was a skin tight baby blue shirt and close hugging black pants that made her look and feel like she was an intern rather than a future member of the largest force on the planet.

"Don't worry," Soul Stealer, sighed next to her, shaking her out of her thoughts, "I'm just as lost as you are. I would have pressed the same thing."

"What you girls need is a pneumonic device to help you remember," BlackJack mused, talking more to himself than anyone.

Storm Dancer couldn't help but roll her eyes at the older hero. He certainly was…..different. But then again, most people who she'd met up here weren't exactly "normal" either.

"So, Storm Dancer?" Soul spoke up from her station.

"You can just call me Sam if you like," Storm Dancer said, a little embarrassed at being addressed in such a formal way, "I don't think anyone up here's going to figure out my identity from that."

"Then you can call me Kite," Soul responded lightly, turning some in her chair to more directly face her companion.

"Deal," Sam grinned, feeling some of the tension evaporating out of the room.

"So then _Sam_,_" _Kite started again, "How did you end up with the League?"

Sam hesitated a moment. A nickname was one thing, but Kite had accidentally hit on a rather personal topic, and one she wasn't all too eager to revisit anytime in the near future. Fortunately, she seemed to pick up on this and waved her hands in front of her in apology.

"You don't have to answer that," Kite apologized hurriedly, "I haven't had to live this double life like so many up here. I forget that people don't always want to share with me-"

Just then, the door to the Womb all but burst open, the compressed air unable to get the steel out of the way fast enough for the person on the other side. Both heroines leapt to their feet, and Blackjack whirled to face the intruder as Rai came forcing his way through, murder on his face.

"Rai?" Blackjack said, shocked to see his friend, "Jesus dude, do you have any idea how close I was to take your head off-"

"Where. Is. He?" Rai snarled, not in the mood to chat.

"Who?"

"J'onn!" Rai barked as if it were obvious, "He's supposed to be on duty now!"

"Founder's meeting," BlackJack shrugged, "But what's the big deal with-HEY!"

Rai was already spun around and sprinting down the nearest corridor, without even a second's hesitation, leaving all three exchanging bewildered looks in his wake.

"Who was that?" Sam, stared after him until Rai was out of sight, "And what was that all about?"

"I don't have any idea," Kite shook her head, "I just met him in the hall an hour ago and he seemed just fine then…"

"You're guess is as good as mine ladies," Blackjack scratched his head, "I know the guy and couldn't tell ya' what his deal is. He's been grumpy for days, but never like this….."

BlackJack frowned, staring at the last place Rai had rounded the corner, before a devilish look glinted off his eyes and at his two companions.

"Anyone want to find out?"

* * *

Halfway across the Watchtower, the Founders sat in a semi-circle with a mixed range of emotion emanating from the group. It never seemed like they were ever together on happy circumstances anymore.

"There's nothing else that can be done about this?" Superman asked, waving his hand at the report in front of him, "I've seen him work and he's not-"

"Neither was Longshadow," Batman interrupted the Man of Steel, "But I think we're all well aware of how that turned out."

"_Accelerated rate of genetic deterioration noted over the last six months. Current rate predicts loss of mental faculties 3-6 months out, complete destabilization of genetic code within 12 to 18."_

"Is there anything we can do to help slow it down?" Flash piped up, "Maybe by this kid some more time? I don't think any of us want to see a repeat of Longshadow again-"

"We are no closer to a reversal serum now than we were then," J'onn interrupted, "And so far any compounds we've tried to at the very least stabilize Windrider's current condition have all shown a further mutation of his DNA."

"But if it helps-"

"The facts are," Batman stopped him, holding up a hand, "that we have absolutely no idea just _how much_ more of that kind of stress on his DNA he could take. We could very well end up killing him in a far worse a way than if we do nothing at all."

"So," Wonder Woman said, not looking up from her own copy, "You're telling us what here, Bruce?"

"Windrider will be dead within the year."

Sam, Kite and BlackJack all backed away from the monitor they'd been huddled around, feeling uneasy all of a sudden. It didn't feel like the best idea to hack into the Founder's room speakers anymore. In retrospect, maybe Rai wasn't as edgy as he was shaken up at finding out not only he was going to die, but that the Founders were hiding it from him. It was easy to see how that kind of thing could mess with a guy's head.

Kite got up from her seat, and started walking towards the door in the direction Rai had taken off in. BlackJack took a moment to realize what she was doing before he grabbed her arm to stop her.

"What are you doing?" He pulled her back.

"Someone's got to go find him before he does something rash!" Kite jerked her arm back, surprised with her own forwardness.

"I agree," Sam nodded, "We can stay here and cover the shift while you go find him, maybe even bring him back to calm him down before he tears into the Founders?"

"Have you both lost your minds?" BlackJack sputtered, "You saw what was on that screen! He's a-"

"You know him don't you?" Kite said, before he could finish.

"Well, yeah, but-"

"And has he ever given you any reason to doubt that he's one of the Justice League?"

"Of course not-"

"Then I'm going after him." Kite turned and left without another word.

BlackJack sighed and glanced at Sam next to him and back out the door. A part of him hoped Kite would find the kid before he did anything really stupid, while another part of him really wished he'd just taken those couple extra hours of sleep.

* * *

Gotc: DONE! And with that, the next runner up in my introductions iiiiiiiiiis: Charmygirl5! She joined our crazy little family a little later in the fic than her character Sam/Storm Dancer is depicted, but hey, this is an adaptation. She's been an awesome addition to have with us and added waaaay more to the overall plot of the RP itself than just playing the part of a character! In fact, Charmy is responsible for several twists and turns our fun little story will take, but you'll just have to keep reading to find out how she's going to really throw everyone for a loop!

And seeing as how I'm tired now, Imma head off to sleep, but before I do….You all remember my fav little button there at the bottom of the screen? You do? Good. Don't forget to push it and check out the actual RP forum for a few spoilers our plot and the brilliant people who've made it possible! Laters!


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